Choices
by CompleteSublimation
Summary: Kelsey is a girl from our world who went to Middle Earth. Not a Sue, reasons given inside. will take place during the War of the Ring. Most likely, Kelsey will appear near Lothlorien, train, and ride with the rangers to the battle at Minas Tirith.
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, this is another one of those magically-transported-to-Middle-Earth original characters. And she is definitely a self insert. However, I don't think she's a Mary Sue. Why? 1) She is based on me. Realistically. Not perfected. I try to make her and all other characters behave as they realistically would.**

**2) She is not a relation of any canon characters. She is a human. Un-enhanced. Nor is there any romance planned. **

**3) There will be no odd coincidences. I used a system of coordinates and coin-flipping to find out where she will 'pop-up'. She will not be very close to major characters.**

**4) This is book-verse, not movie-verse. I'm a bit of a nerd on this stuff. Still, I haven't read it in a while, so feel free to correct me.**

**If you still don't like it, don't read it. I'm writing this for myself. If you still think she's too much of a Sue, I'm open to suggestions on how to make it more realistic.**

**Disclaimer: I did not invent Middle Earth. Tolkien did. So far I own only Kelsey and her family. Neither did I invent McDonalds or any other brands.**

Chapter 1: Fog

Kelsey once again tried to concentrate on the book in her lap. This was difficult for a number of reasons. They were sitting in the car on a highway. The sunlight flickered over the pages as trees flashed past. Her mother had turned on the radio. Also, in the seat behind her, her little brother was talking to her, despite the fact that she was obviously trying to read. She ignored him.

The family was driving home from the summer vacation, and she longed to be alone for the first time in weeks.

'I'm hungry,' her brother piped up a few minutes later. 'Can we go to McDonalds?' 'Eat a sandwich,' Kelsey suggested. She didn't want to stop driving. And he couldn't have chosen something better than McDonalds?

'But I want something warm' He insisted. 'Alright, we'll stop at the next place,' their mother agreed.

By the time they had stopped, the weather had changed to a foggy drizzle. Kelsey took slid the book into her bag and took it along. She wanted to read while her brother ate his cheeseburger. She also retrieved her coat from the trunk.

She was still cold in her thin black jeans, so she quickly started walking towards the building, her family trailing behind.

The fog was thickening, and her glasses were soon covered with water droplets. She took them off and wiped them on her shirt. It did not help much; she had lost sight of the building.

Kelsey kept walking. She could still see the sidewalk of the parking lot for a few meters ahead, and she knew it led to the building.

All noises of the parking lot seemed stifled; it was probably deserted in this weather anyway.

Suddenly she stepped off the concrete and onto soggy grass. She must have angled slightly to the left, and walked off the sidewalk. The fog had thickened so much that she could not see the ground anymore. She took a step to the right to correct her mistake. Nothing. She was still standing on grass. Puzzled, Kelsey crouched down and felt the ground. Even further to her right, there was also only muddy earth and long wet grass. She took another sidestep just to make sure.

She decided the path much have taken a turn or ended. She walked back to the right and took a few steps to the direction she had come from. Still nothing.

Kelsey was very confused. She usually had a reliable sense of direction and geometry. This was ridiculous. She must have made some stupid, obvious, mistake.

She though the situation over again. Still, there was no reason for the sidewalk to not be there. She was lost.

Kelsey considered using her cell phone. If she even had her mother's number. She never used it. She imagined the conversation: 'Mom, I'm lost. I think I'm about a meter next to the parking lot. Could you please give me directions?' It was absurd.

She decided to wait until the fog lifted. Otherwise she would risk walking onto a road, or a field, or a ditch, or run into the fence of a pasture. Possibly an electric fence. That would really be stupid. But on the other hand, how long would it take for the fog to clear? She decided to wait five minutes, and then figure out which way to walk.

Within two minutes, she had used her camera to take pictures in all directions using different modes. It didn't show more than her eyes, and Kelsey was afraid of the moisture getting into the camera.

Luckily, after only 3 minutes she could about six metres. (A/N: that's about 20 feet, for the Americans)

And what she saw only confused her even more. The sidewalk was still absent, as far as she could see. All lights of cars and the building were also gone.

Impatient to wait longer, she tried to decide in which direction to walk. The sun brightened an area in the sky, it was early evening. So she knew where west was. The highway ran across Germany from the east to the west. And since she had not crossed it, she was south of it. Kelsey concluded that if she walked north, she would eventually come across the highway. And if that didn't work, because the world was not making sense, she would use her cell phone.

Sometime later, she had walked to the north for a while. There were still no signs of civilization. Her cell phone received no signal. She had developed a number of fanciful theories which could not possibly be true, but were nonetheless nice to imagine. She had developed exactly two theories which were actually possible.

One: This place without civilization must be a natural reserve or something. It must border on the highway, and due to several probably pretty obvious mistakes in her reasoning, she had somehow stumbled into it in the fog.

Two: This was the most realistic dream she had ever had. She had probably fallen asleep in the car, because she had stayed up pretty late last night reading 'The Return of the King'.

Either way, she had to find civilization. Kelsey resolved that the only thing she could do was keep walking north. Sooner or later she had to find something.

**She's taking a bit long to get it. She's just a narrow-mindedly logic person. And she won't believe something so unlikely. Especially not something that good.**

**Please review. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Sadly I still don't own Lord of the Rings. And obviously I didn't invent Pirates of the Caribbean. **

Chapter 2

By sunset, the fog had cleared. Kelsey was starting to get cold again, and she had nearly twisted her ankle in her high-heeled sandals more than once. Also, she was getting sort of hungry.

A very large mountain range had materialized to her right. As far as she knew there were no mountain ranges of this size anywhere in Germany, especially not any running north to south. 'Well that's just maddeningly unhelpful,' she observed, quoting Pirates of the Caribbean.

She than sieved through her memory again. What was the largest mountain range in northern Germany and where was it located? Real-world geography had never been her strength. 'Do I happen to have any maps on me?' She asked, and then giggled, enjoying the freedom to think out loud. While walking she checked her bag, calculating each item's usefulness.

She had several books. The only map in those was one of Beleriand. She had several pages of quenya grammar. Well, at least something constructive to do if she got bored. There was a bottle of water. That might actually be useful.

Her cell phone had no signal, but she could use it to tell the time. 21:19. They ought to be missing her by now. She felt a bit guilty for whatever stupid error had made her be lost, but at any rate there was nothing she could do but keep walking.

She had a camera. She took a picture of the mountains. It was a very nice sunset. And the picture eliminated the possibility of hallucinations.

Kelsey had though that when it grew dark she would be able to see some lights. Streets, houses, or cities. There were none. But there were a lot of stars. More than she had ever seen, and there was a bright half-moon. She took out her camera and tried out several different settings to get the best picture.

Suddenly the ground disappeared beneath her feet. She gasped and fell, tumbling down a small slope and coming to a stop on pebbles.

Kelsey was stunned for a moment, then slid her camera back in her bag and looked around. Behind her, there was a slope, less than a meter high. She was sitting in the riverbed. She gingerly got up and took a step forward.

Her foot landed in icy cold water. She jumped back, shocked. Now one of her feet was wet. How inconvenient. She was standing in a riverbed, with no way of crossing.

Kelsey sat down again, took off her wet sandal, and tried to think of what to do.

Her eyes slid closed. She was tired. But she should try to find a better place to sleep.

When Kelsey opened her eyes, she jerked back in shock and blinked several times. She was now surrounded by five forms standing around her. They were silent and unmoving and their faces were deathly pale. Kelsey dared not move, but waited for this eerie scene to pass. She had probably fallen asleep. If it hadn't been a dream all along. The apparitions looked solid and detailed, but with their unnatural stillness they felt unreal.

When Kelsey finally raised her head, one of them made a comment to the others, who laughed softly. It did not seem at all hostile. She scrambled to her feet, deciding to make the best of this dream.

The one in the center said something. A short question. The term 'fair elven voices' immediately sprang to her mind. She smiled helplessly, not understanding. She decided to think of these people as elves, even though she tried to tell herself that would be impossible. It was her dream, after all.

The elf repeated the question, and then tried another, similar sounding language. When she gave no answer, one of his companions repeated his words in several other languages. Then he seemed to have settled on one which he thought she was most likely to speak. He spoke slowly, coaxing, as if to a child.

Finally they fell silent. They conferred among themselves.

Finally the leader turned to her. ' á tulë,' he commended. She thought that might mean 'come!' The five elves than turned around and quickly faded into the night, downstream.

Having no desire to be left behind, Kelsey fumbled to slip her wet foot back into the sandal, then jogged along behind them, catching up.

The pebbled crunched beneath her feet, and the tall elves marched swiftly and silently. She was tired, and stumbled along, trying to keep up.

Some time later, they came to a forest. They did not walk far in, but the leaves obscured the stars, and it was dark. Luckily, the ground was even and covered with leaves, and the trees were slender and smooth, she could see them in the dark.

The party stopped, and two of the elves had disappeared before she became aware of it. As she watched, another two ran up a rope ladder that had dropped from a tree. 'A talan', she though. The remaining elf motioned her to follow. She climbed up the ladder rather more slowly and less gracefully, surfacing on a smooth platform woven of twigs. The elves stood looking out over the forest, but she was rather tired and decided to sit down in the corner instead, and promptly fell asleep.

**The stream mentioned is the Nimrodel. The elves let her into their forest because she isn't really much of a threat, and to protect her from orcs. They are a group guarding the border. And she isn't really in their realm yet, just an outpost.**

**Please review!**


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